China has banned an antibiotic suspected of killing three, including a little girl, and sickening 78 others, state media said Sunday.
The State Food and Drug Administration has ordered an end to the use of clindamycin phosphate glucose and started a nationwide recall before it hurts more people, the Xinhua news agency reported.
The drug, used to treat bacterial infections, is produced by Anhui Huayuan Worldbest Biology Pharmacy Co. in east China's Anhui province, according to the agency.
A six-year-old girl in the northeastern city of Harbin died on July 27 after she was injected with the drug while being treated for a common cold, Xinhua said.
The drug is also suspected of having caused the death Wednesday of a 48-year-old woman in the central province of Hubei, the agency said. It did not give details about the third reported fatality.
Symptoms among patients sickened by the drug include kidney pains, stomach aches, nausea, vomiting and chest pains, Xinhua said.
China's poorly regulated pharmaceutical industry has frequently been in the spotlight for making products that did more harm than good to their users.
The government banned a gel used for breast enlargements in May after hundreds of women injected with the fluid reported suffering severe pain and other health problems.
Earlier this year, several Chinese patients also died after taking a counterfeit drug ostensibly meant to treat gallstones and gastritis.
